The Maori issues policies of the eight parties in Parliament are compared in the table below.
The Herald is covering all the major policy areas in a series running throughout the election campaign.
| Party | Policy | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | Retain Maori Electoral Option which controls the number of Maori seats. Settle all historical claims by 2020. Review Te Ture Whenua Act. Develop papakainga and kaumatua housing; partner with iwi to increase housing options; look at guaranteeing housing projects on Maori land. Encourage agenices to work together to address gangs. Support Maori Television; continue trade training initiatives. | |
| National | Settle historical claims by 2014, then abolish Maori seats. Move Office of Treaty Settlements from Justice to Dept of PM and Cabinet. Appoint independent settlement facilitators. Review impact of increases in prices on settlements. Increase Waitangi Tribunal funding to sit full time. Review Te Ture Whenua Act. Expand papakainga housing on communally owned land. | |
| NZ First | Review rating of Maori owned land, rates remission. Remove provision for separate Maori wards at council level. Maintain high housing need zones Northland, East Coast, Eastern Bay of Plenty - with low deposit and low interest provisions. Support one franchise but Maori decide when to abolish Maori seats. | |
| Greens | Entrench Maori seats. Implement the UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights. Protect intellectual property rights. Ensure Government pays deforestation cost of settlement land for this cycle of harvest. Require banks to provide credit for muliple-owned Maori land. Support papakainga housing projects. Iwi collaboration in prison management. | |
| Maori Party | Establish a constitutional commission to draft arrangements that give effect to Treaty of Waitangi. Establish a parliamentary commissioner for the treaty. Break the fiscal cap on settlements. Buy out Ngai Tahu and Tainui relativity clauses. Entrench Maori seats. Repeal Foreshore and Seabed Act. Develop sustainable housing initiatives with iwi. | |
| United Future | Settle all historical Treaty claims by 2014. Establish a new national day separate from Waitangi Day. Work with Maori to phase out separate Maori seats by 2014. Ensure settlements recognise the place of tangata whenua but do not give them greater rights than others. | |
| Act | No specific Maori policy. | |
| Progressive | Implement programmes to address inequalities in earnings, education, life span, housing and health. Ensure that Maori reach full employment. | |
